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Outhouse Editor

seriously, does this guy come in any other time than when I am working, I hate him and his same repetitive stupid shit, I have told him how to fix the problems he is having multiple times, he doesn't want to listen fuck him, I will no longer listen to his complaints.

Outhouse Editor

seriously, does this guy come in any other time than when I am working, I hate him and his same repetitive stupid shit, I have told him how to fix the problems he is having multiple times, he doesn't want to listen fuck him, I will no longer listen to his complaints.

Rain Partier

thefourthman wrote:dammit UPS costs about Ten more dollars and Fedex is even more. Is there anyone else?

Not that I know of, and yes they are more expensive by far. Maybe wait and hope it ends shortly for small sales then?

Here's eBay's announcement:

CANADA POST SUSPENDS OPERATIONSAn ongoing labor dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has escalated to a full lockout. Canada Post has announced that, effective today, mail will not be accepted or delivered across Canada until further notice.The lockout impacts all shipments to and from Canada handled by Canada Post, as well as shipments into Canada via postal carriers such as USPS or Royal Mail.Sellers from both sides of the border who have not yet shipped items that have been paid for are encouraged to work with their buyers to discuss potential alternate shipping options. Sellers who can offer courier services, such as UPS or FedEx, are encouraged to modify their listings to offer these options. We’re adding messaging in purchase flows to alert buyers to the situation, and we’ve also included a message in the feedback process to remind buyers that shipping delays due to labor disputes are not within a seller’s control.We will work closely with the Seller Standards team to protect sellers from lower performance ratings received due to Canada Post disruption-related issues.This is an unfortunate and frustrating situation. While we hope for a quick resolution to the conflict, we will do everything in our power to support sellers during this time.Update posted on June 16th:Sellers, as always, only transactions with U.S. buyers count towards your seller standards, including eligibility for Top-rated seller and PowerSeller status on eBay.com.

Rain Partier

thefourthman wrote:dammit UPS costs about Ten more dollars and Fedex is even more. Is there anyone else?

Not that I know of, and yes they are more expensive by far. Maybe wait and hope it ends shortly for small sales then?

Here's eBay's announcement:

CANADA POST SUSPENDS OPERATIONSAn ongoing labor dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has escalated to a full lockout. Canada Post has announced that, effective today, mail will not be accepted or delivered across Canada until further notice.The lockout impacts all shipments to and from Canada handled by Canada Post, as well as shipments into Canada via postal carriers such as USPS or Royal Mail.Sellers from both sides of the border who have not yet shipped items that have been paid for are encouraged to work with their buyers to discuss potential alternate shipping options. Sellers who can offer courier services, such as UPS or FedEx, are encouraged to modify their listings to offer these options. We’re adding messaging in purchase flows to alert buyers to the situation, and we’ve also included a message in the feedback process to remind buyers that shipping delays due to labor disputes are not within a seller’s control.We will work closely with the Seller Standards team to protect sellers from lower performance ratings received due to Canada Post disruption-related issues.This is an unfortunate and frustrating situation. While we hope for a quick resolution to the conflict, we will do everything in our power to support sellers during this time.Update posted on June 16th:Sellers, as always, only transactions with U.S. buyers count towards your seller standards, including eligibility for Top-rated seller and PowerSeller status on eBay.com.

Wrasslin' Fan

Eli Katz wrote:I think the prime minister has near dictatorial powers can pass something called "back to work" legislation, which forces the postal carriers to deliver the mail. Who knows if the unions would comply?

They comply most of the time. In this case since its a lock out, there's not much reason to assume they won't.

Usually a tool of last resort, back-to-work legislation is now an option to end labour unrest at both Air Canada and Canada Post.

Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt announced — after 3,800 striking Air Canada customer service and sales staff had been off the job less than 24 hours — that back-to-work legislation would be introduced Thursday if a settlement is not negotiated by then.

In addition, Raitt said a back-to-work bill will be introduced in Parliament by Monday now that Canada Post has locked out 48,000 urban postal workers.

In the face of a long strike or a work stoppage in a key sector of the economy, federal and provincial governments often turn to a back-to-work law to restore important services. Unions see such actions as undermining their collective bargaining rights.

Back-to-work legislation can be a saviour or subverter — it all depends which side of the fence you are on.

What is back-to-work legislation?

It's a special law passed by the government — federal or provincial — that orders an end to a labour-management dispute. The power to force an end to a strike or lockout was reinforced by the Supreme Court in 1987, after the Alberta government asked if unions had a constitutionally protected right to strike. The Court said they did not.

What does it do?

Back-to-work legislation ends a strike or lockout by either imposing a binding arbitration process on the two parties of a labour dispute or a new contract without negotiation.

Under arbitration, the union and the employer submit what they are willing to accept to a government-appointed arbitrator and the arbitrator reaches a compromise position that both parties must legally accept.

Imposing a contract often occurs when the employees are civil servants, and allows the government to decide the terms of a new collective agreement.

That was the case in February 2010, when Quebec forced 1,500 striking government lawyers back-to-work with a five-year contract.

When is it used?

Back-to-work legislation is generally used to end a strike — or lockout — in an industry that the government decides is essential to the operating of the economy. It can also be used to end an illegal strike, either by a group that is deemed essential and is therefore prevented by law from going on strike, or workers who have gone out in violation of an existing contract.

Typically, back-to-work legislation is imposed only after some time has passed, further efforts at reaching a settlement have failed, there is considerable public pressure to end the dispute or the service provided by striking workers is deemed essential to the economy or public safety. On some occasions, it has been introduced as a pressure tactic to get negotiations to move faster.When was back-to-work legislation first used?

On Aug. 22, 1950, Canada's railway unions launched a nationwide strike, shutting down the rail system from coast to coast. At that time, the country depended on the railways to ship everything from food to clothing across the country. Without the freight trains, there were fears that factories would be unable to ship their goods to market and store shelves could go empty.

As well, the railway workers were branded unpatriotic because their job action did not support the Korean War effort.

On Aug. 29, Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent introduced Bill-1, The Maintenance of Railway Operation Act. It ordered an end to the strike and imposed a process for settling the dispute between the workers and the rail companies.

The legislation passed second and third reading, was approved by the Senate and given royal assent the next day. Within days, the railway workers were back on the job.

A byproduct of the strike was the boost it gave to Canada's fledgling trucking industry.

How often is it used?

Since 1950, the federal government has passed back-to-work legislation 32 times, usually to end strikes by railway workers, grain handlers and port workers. It has used back-to-work legislation to end several postal strikes, as well as a 1977 strike by air traffic controllers.

The last time the federal government successfully used the tool was in 2007, to end a strike by 2,800 drivers, yardmasters, and trainmen and yardmen at Canadian National Railway Company. In February of that year, striking CN workers reached a tentative agreement with management. However, by April, strike action resumed when United Transit Union workers overwhelmingly rejected the agreement in a ratification vote. The federal government then revived Bill C-61, back-to-work legislation it had introduced in February, and quickly passed it, which forced an end to strike action and imposed an arbitration process on the union and CN management.

On November 30, 2009, the federal government introduced legislation to force striking CN locomotive engineers back to work, but then withdrew the bill when the union and management reached a deal two days later.

Back-to-work legislation has also been used by provincial governments, usually to end disputes in the fields of health care, education and public transit.

The legislation has been used to end transit strikes in Toronto several times, most recently in 2008. The usual pattern in the city — where about 1.5 million people a day depend on public transit — is for the province to legislate an end to a strike within a few days.

It was also used to end a four-month-long transit strike in Vancouver in 2001 — B.C.'s longest transit strike ever. The government had decided that the bargaining process was not working, so it ordered the workers back and appointed a special mediator to resolve the issues.Are there other options?

Sometimes there are. Governments pondering back-to-work legislation sometimes opt for a sort of "back-to-work lite" — legislation that requires workers to return to their jobs (whether they are on strike or locked out). The bill includes a "cooling-off" period, after which negotiations are given another chance.

That option was considered during Vancouver's transit strike.

Alternatively, governments can ban strikes by passing essential service legislation. Usually, essential services are only those that prevent danger to life, health or safety and disruption of the courts, but in response to economic concerns, the definition has broadened.

Case in point: in March 2011, the Ontario government passed a law designating the TTC as an essential service at Toronto mayor Rob Ford's request. Supporters of the law argued that the city could not afford another transit strike or lockout, which costs Toronto's economy an estimated $50 million a day.

Essential service designation means that in the event that a negotiation cannot be reached between the union and management, unresolved issues will go to arbitration unless the government imposes a new contract unilaterally.

Critics argue that arbitration often results in expensive settlements, which can be costly for taxpayers and that removing the right to strike limits unions' bargaining power.

What if the legislation is ignored?

In 1946, unions won the right to collect dues from everyone covered by a contract it negotiated with an employer. But there was another side of that coin — they were also forced to face economic penalties for illegally withdrawing their services.

Under back-to-work legislation, those penalties are spelled out. They usually involve heavy fines against a union, moderate fines against individuals and, sometimes, jail time for ignoring a back-to-work order.

In 2007, Bill C-61, the legislation used to end the strike action by CN workers, called for fines of $50,000 per day against individuals representing the union or employer who defied the law and $1,000 a day for individuals ignoring the back-to-work order. In the event that the union or employer do not respect the conditions of the act, they would be fined up to $100,000. No fines were levied in that dispute.

But in 1978, Jean-Claude Parrot, then leader of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, was jailed for two months for defying back-to-work legislation.

However, recent back-to-work legislation has opted not to include a prison term among its penalties.

Wrasslin' Fan

Eli Katz wrote:I think the prime minister has near dictatorial powers can pass something called "back to work" legislation, which forces the postal carriers to deliver the mail. Who knows if the unions would comply?

They comply most of the time. In this case since its a lock out, there's not much reason to assume they won't.

Usually a tool of last resort, back-to-work legislation is now an option to end labour unrest at both Air Canada and Canada Post.

Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt announced — after 3,800 striking Air Canada customer service and sales staff had been off the job less than 24 hours — that back-to-work legislation would be introduced Thursday if a settlement is not negotiated by then.

In addition, Raitt said a back-to-work bill will be introduced in Parliament by Monday now that Canada Post has locked out 48,000 urban postal workers.

In the face of a long strike or a work stoppage in a key sector of the economy, federal and provincial governments often turn to a back-to-work law to restore important services. Unions see such actions as undermining their collective bargaining rights.

Back-to-work legislation can be a saviour or subverter — it all depends which side of the fence you are on.

What is back-to-work legislation?

It's a special law passed by the government — federal or provincial — that orders an end to a labour-management dispute. The power to force an end to a strike or lockout was reinforced by the Supreme Court in 1987, after the Alberta government asked if unions had a constitutionally protected right to strike. The Court said they did not.

What does it do?

Back-to-work legislation ends a strike or lockout by either imposing a binding arbitration process on the two parties of a labour dispute or a new contract without negotiation.

Under arbitration, the union and the employer submit what they are willing to accept to a government-appointed arbitrator and the arbitrator reaches a compromise position that both parties must legally accept.

Imposing a contract often occurs when the employees are civil servants, and allows the government to decide the terms of a new collective agreement.

That was the case in February 2010, when Quebec forced 1,500 striking government lawyers back-to-work with a five-year contract.

When is it used?

Back-to-work legislation is generally used to end a strike — or lockout — in an industry that the government decides is essential to the operating of the economy. It can also be used to end an illegal strike, either by a group that is deemed essential and is therefore prevented by law from going on strike, or workers who have gone out in violation of an existing contract.

Typically, back-to-work legislation is imposed only after some time has passed, further efforts at reaching a settlement have failed, there is considerable public pressure to end the dispute or the service provided by striking workers is deemed essential to the economy or public safety. On some occasions, it has been introduced as a pressure tactic to get negotiations to move faster.When was back-to-work legislation first used?

On Aug. 22, 1950, Canada's railway unions launched a nationwide strike, shutting down the rail system from coast to coast. At that time, the country depended on the railways to ship everything from food to clothing across the country. Without the freight trains, there were fears that factories would be unable to ship their goods to market and store shelves could go empty.

As well, the railway workers were branded unpatriotic because their job action did not support the Korean War effort.

On Aug. 29, Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent introduced Bill-1, The Maintenance of Railway Operation Act. It ordered an end to the strike and imposed a process for settling the dispute between the workers and the rail companies.

The legislation passed second and third reading, was approved by the Senate and given royal assent the next day. Within days, the railway workers were back on the job.

A byproduct of the strike was the boost it gave to Canada's fledgling trucking industry.

How often is it used?

Since 1950, the federal government has passed back-to-work legislation 32 times, usually to end strikes by railway workers, grain handlers and port workers. It has used back-to-work legislation to end several postal strikes, as well as a 1977 strike by air traffic controllers.

The last time the federal government successfully used the tool was in 2007, to end a strike by 2,800 drivers, yardmasters, and trainmen and yardmen at Canadian National Railway Company. In February of that year, striking CN workers reached a tentative agreement with management. However, by April, strike action resumed when United Transit Union workers overwhelmingly rejected the agreement in a ratification vote. The federal government then revived Bill C-61, back-to-work legislation it had introduced in February, and quickly passed it, which forced an end to strike action and imposed an arbitration process on the union and CN management.

On November 30, 2009, the federal government introduced legislation to force striking CN locomotive engineers back to work, but then withdrew the bill when the union and management reached a deal two days later.

Back-to-work legislation has also been used by provincial governments, usually to end disputes in the fields of health care, education and public transit.

The legislation has been used to end transit strikes in Toronto several times, most recently in 2008. The usual pattern in the city — where about 1.5 million people a day depend on public transit — is for the province to legislate an end to a strike within a few days.

It was also used to end a four-month-long transit strike in Vancouver in 2001 — B.C.'s longest transit strike ever. The government had decided that the bargaining process was not working, so it ordered the workers back and appointed a special mediator to resolve the issues.Are there other options?

Sometimes there are. Governments pondering back-to-work legislation sometimes opt for a sort of "back-to-work lite" — legislation that requires workers to return to their jobs (whether they are on strike or locked out). The bill includes a "cooling-off" period, after which negotiations are given another chance.

That option was considered during Vancouver's transit strike.

Alternatively, governments can ban strikes by passing essential service legislation. Usually, essential services are only those that prevent danger to life, health or safety and disruption of the courts, but in response to economic concerns, the definition has broadened.

Case in point: in March 2011, the Ontario government passed a law designating the TTC as an essential service at Toronto mayor Rob Ford's request. Supporters of the law argued that the city could not afford another transit strike or lockout, which costs Toronto's economy an estimated $50 million a day.

Essential service designation means that in the event that a negotiation cannot be reached between the union and management, unresolved issues will go to arbitration unless the government imposes a new contract unilaterally.

Critics argue that arbitration often results in expensive settlements, which can be costly for taxpayers and that removing the right to strike limits unions' bargaining power.

What if the legislation is ignored?

In 1946, unions won the right to collect dues from everyone covered by a contract it negotiated with an employer. But there was another side of that coin — they were also forced to face economic penalties for illegally withdrawing their services.

Under back-to-work legislation, those penalties are spelled out. They usually involve heavy fines against a union, moderate fines against individuals and, sometimes, jail time for ignoring a back-to-work order.

In 2007, Bill C-61, the legislation used to end the strike action by CN workers, called for fines of $50,000 per day against individuals representing the union or employer who defied the law and $1,000 a day for individuals ignoring the back-to-work order. In the event that the union or employer do not respect the conditions of the act, they would be fined up to $100,000. No fines were levied in that dispute.

But in 1978, Jean-Claude Parrot, then leader of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, was jailed for two months for defying back-to-work legislation.

However, recent back-to-work legislation has opted not to include a prison term among its penalties.

Staff Writer

Story - I kind of think Vikings get a short shrift when it comes to historical fiction, most writers seem to prefer the Romans or the Middle Ages, and when we see Vikings they are just portrayed as savages out to rape and pillage whatever they can and drink as much mead as they can. And whilst they did do that, they were deeper than that, and Brian Wood knows this, and it's why Northlanders is such a good book. It's a comic about Vikings, but it's not just mindless violence, it's about people, and about a society very different from ours. And this particular issue focusses on the place of women in Viking society.

The story of this issue, like most of the shorter Northlanders stories is fairly lightweight. Birna is the only child of a clan-chief, and even though she is a girl she is treated well by the Clan. But when her father dies she is not allowed to take charge, even though she has been groomed to take over.

That's pretty much it, there's some back-story detail about how Birna's mother killed herself, but that's not really important. What's important here is the tone of the story, the world it creates and the themes it expresses. This is a one-shot story, we'll never see this character again, so we don't really need to know a lot about her. Birna is here to show how rough it was for a woman in Viking times, and I think Wood expresses this well. She has no real place, unless she takes it, unless she in some ways becomes a Man herself, and leads an army to battle. In today's modern times of (more or less) gender equality it's interesting to see what things were like when women were basically treated as property, and it's great to see one woman fight back. It's something Wood has done before in this book, with the 'Plague Widow' and 'Shield Maidens' storylines, and it's something that's needed. Viking stories are often hyper-masculine action-fests, but without women, these bearded bad-asses would be nowhere.

This was a good issue of Northlanders, like last month's 'The Hunt' it was a contemplative, complete short story, and it's to this book and to Brian Wood's credit that he can do both these short vignettes about Viking life and also epic 9 and 8 part serials. It's a shame it's been cancelled, but stories as strong as this will live on in trades.

Art - I wasn't familiar with Marian Churchland before this issue, but I was really impressed with this issue, it was beautiful. The art reminded me of illustrations from a children's book in some ways, and as this is a story about a young girl trying to find her place, it was very appropriate. The colours by Dave McCaig also contributed to this effect, it looked like he had used colouring pencils and crayons.

Best Line - 'You're going to have to convince yourself before anyone'll listen to you'

Story - I kind of think Vikings get a short shrift when it comes to historical fiction, most writers seem to prefer the Romans or the Middle Ages, and when we see Vikings they are just portrayed as savages out to rape and pillage whatever they can and drink as much mead as they can. And whilst they did do that, they were deeper than that, and Brian Wood knows this, and it's why Northlanders is such a good book. It's a comic about Vikings, but it's not just mindless violence, it's about people, and about a society very different from ours. And this particular issue focusses on the place of women in Viking society.

The story of this issue, like most of the shorter Northlanders stories is fairly lightweight. Birna is the only child of a clan-chief, and even though she is a girl she is treated well by the Clan. But when her father dies she is not allowed to take charge, even though she has been groomed to take over.

That's pretty much it, there's some back-story detail about how Birna's mother killed herself, but that's not really important. What's important here is the tone of the story, the world it creates and the themes it expresses. This is a one-shot story, we'll never see this character again, so we don't really need to know a lot about her. Birna is here to show how rough it was for a woman in Viking times, and I think Wood expresses this well. She has no real place, unless she takes it, unless she in some ways becomes a Man herself, and leads an army to battle. In today's modern times of (more or less) gender equality it's interesting to see what things were like when women were basically treated as property, and it's great to see one woman fight back. It's something Wood has done before in this book, with the 'Plague Widow' and 'Shield Maidens' storylines, and it's something that's needed. Viking stories are often hyper-masculine action-fests, but without women, these bearded bad-asses would be nowhere.

This was a good issue of Northlanders, like last month's 'The Hunt' it was a contemplative, complete short story, and it's to this book and to Brian Wood's credit that he can do both these short vignettes about Viking life and also epic 9 and 8 part serials. It's a shame it's been cancelled, but stories as strong as this will live on in trades.

Art - I wasn't familiar with Marian Churchland before this issue, but I was really impressed with this issue, it was beautiful. The art reminded me of illustrations from a children's book in some ways, and as this is a story about a young girl trying to find her place, it was very appropriate. The colours by Dave McCaig also contributed to this effect, it looked like he had used colouring pencils and crayons.

Best Line - 'You're going to have to convince yourself before anyone'll listen to you'